Reduced Sense of Pain

A reduced sense of pain is a symptom of using, and being dependent on, narcotics. When you abuse opioid painkillers, such as Vicodin, OxyContin, morphine, or codeine, you feel relief from whatever pain you were going through. However, this relief usually only lasts for a short while. Once the effects of the drugs wear off, you will find yourself back to square one, with the pain you were desperately trying to get rid of. To try and recapture the relief, you begin to spend more than you can afford to get these drugs, just so you can enjoy that temporary relief. After this, you will start exhibiting abnormal tendencies toward isolation and lashing out at others, along with other typical signs of drug abuse.

As you may well know, it’s not only heroin, cocaine, and other illegal drugs that can be abused. Prescription painkillers can also be used and abused. You will generally start abusing these painkillers, most likely first prescribed by your doctor, when you take more than the recommended dose, or when you take them too frequently. As a matter of fact, statistics show that overdosing on opioids was the cause of death for more than 115 people in the United States. The problem does not lie in using these drugs to relieve yourself from pain, the problem arises when you become addicted to them. So, the question is,

How Do You Know If You’ve Become Addicted to Painkillers?

Like every other type of drug addiction, the most obvious sign that you’ve become addicted is when you develop strong cravings that compel you to continue using. Even though you know overusing the drugs has harmful effects, you still seek them out. You can’t help it, as the drugs have changed the wiring of your brain, and you can only feel good after you’ve taken them.

Other signs of addiction include: taking more than you want, or originally planned, to, carrying the drugs with you at all times, doing whatever you can to get hold of the drugs, and getting sick whenever you try to stop using the drugs. And, do you know what’s even worse?

The Interaction Between Pain and Addiction

There are various ways addiction will affect the experience of individuals suffering from chronic pain. As these two things, pain and addiction, share the same components, each may intensify the other when they occur together. This means that the results of chronic pain and addiction, such as depression, non-restorative sleep, inability to function, and anxiety, will come in greater bursts.

In addition to that, the off period, that is, the periods of withdrawal from drugs, may increase pain among addicted individuals. Addiction also makes it extremely difficult for individuals to comply with the recommendations for pain treatment. It seems as if it’s impossible to manage chronic pain effectively without treating an active addiction at the same time.

When to Get Help

Once you detect that the painkillers your doctor prescribed are starting to cause problems for you, maybe making you lose control, consult your doctor immediately. Your doctor is in the best position to provide you with the best plan of action. If you’ve become addicted, you’ll have to go through the process your doctor advises for you, and you must be patient as overcoming addiction takes time.

If you genuinely want to deal with both your emotional and physical pain, you have to stop abusing drugs immediately.

Finding useful information and resources about addiction or alcoholism can be a minefield. To increase the chance of a successful recovery and life of sobriety it is important to receive guidance from a reliable source.